N ] ETHNOZOOLOGY OF TILE TEWA INDIANS 



native uncultivated flora, and without considerable change in topog 

 raphy and flora there would be little change in the fauna. 1 



In event of such desiccation some local migrations of species sug 

 gest themselves as possible. During August the writers found no 

 blackbirds or meadowlarks on the mesas or in the canyons examined 

 and conditions are not favorable to their regular presence there, but 

 with somewhat greater precipitation moist meadows may have pro 

 vided a suitable habitat for the redwings and cultivated upland areas 

 near water may have attracted the meadowlarks. Both are- now 

 found in favorable localities in the Rio Grande valley. In a paper 

 hereinafter cited Mrs. Bailey says that in San Miguel county the 

 meadowlark occurs only in depressions in the plains where there is 

 water. The limited distribution of water restricts the habitat of 

 ducks and shore birds, which once may have been more generally 

 distributed. 



To understand fully the culture of a region it is necessary to know 

 something of the native animals, especially those which have been 

 useful to the people or which would have been noticed by them. The 

 flesh of animals furnishes food, the skins provide raiment, thongs, 

 and other useful products, and bones furnish awls and other imple 

 ments; but perhaps even more important, from the cultural point of 

 view, is the fact that animals enter largely into the mythology and 

 religion of primitive peoples. The finding, in the ruins, of bones 

 other than human may fairly be assumed to indicate that the 

 animals to which they belonged were used by the former inhabitants 

 for utilitarian, ornamental, or ceremonial purposes. In most cases 

 the character of the animals, the condition of the bones, or the cir 

 cumstances under which found suggests a marked probability as to 

 the particular use. The culture, religion, and language of living 

 peoples who are believed to be either directly descended from or closely 

 related to the ancient inhabitants surely must throw much light on 

 the subject. A large quantity of bones has been taken from the 

 ruins of the Pajarito plateau, but the work of identification has not 

 yet been completed. 



It is not likely that in the use of animals for food the ancient 

 inhabitants of this region differed much from those of northeastern 

 Arizona. Discussing the bones found in the latter region, Hough 2 

 says: 



The remains show that most of the animals of the region were consumed as food; 

 but, as might be anticipated, bones of the carnivora are much rarer than those of the 

 herbivora, the latter represented by deer and rabbit species, and the former by the 

 fox, coyote, wolf, dog, raccoon, badger, wildcat, and puma, but no bones of the bear 



1 See Bulletins 54 and 55 of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



2 Hough, Walter, Archeological Field Work in Northeastern Arizona (The Museum-Gates Expedition 

 of 1901), Ann. Rep. U. S. Nat. Mus. for 1901, pp. 356-57, 19(. 



